Tending The Blue Flames In A Cold Heart
by corialanus
Summary: When Azula is sentenced to have her firebending stripped by the avatar an old friend feels the need to break in and free her.  But will Ty Lee be able to stand by Azula on what seems a hopeless quest for two teenage girls to conquer the world?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Saving a Princess

AN: Hello everyone this is going to be long multi chapter fic about the strange friendship between two very different people Azula and Ty Lee. Just as a warning there will be no romance between them, I'm not ruling out some other romances for our heroines but there will be none between them. Also Azula is going to be Azula, she will not be turning good or forgetting what happened, she is going to want those responsible for her downfall to pay. I'm always happy to read your reviews both positive and negative, and I don't own Azula or Ty Lee or anything in the avatar world, hope you enjoy.

Ty lee was out with her fellow Kiyoshi warriors in a small Fire Nation town just outside the capitol tracking down a lead about some rogue firebenders causing trouble. They had not found much, no real evidence anything had happened in fact. She was sitting in a field of fire lilies as the sun was setting. She had a smile on her face thinking about these past two months she had spent with these girl warriors who had once been her enemy. She had made some really good friends and had some great memories, and was sad that she was going to have to leave during the night.

She picked a fire lily and put it up to her nose and breathed in deep, she knew that by leaving the Kiyoshi warriors and going to do what she was planning her life would stop being as fun and happy it had been since the war ended. These girls who were now her friends would soon become her enemy again and that made her sad, but as soon as she heard the sentence of Azula, she knew that saving Azula was what she needed to do. She knew that Azula thought that she had betrayed her, and was not at all angry at Azula for putting her in prison, it had lead her to make all these new friends anyway. Ty Lee had never meant to betray Azula anyway, it's just she knew how angry she could get and if she had fought Mai she could've killed her and Ty Lee just wouldn't let her two best friends kill each other.

A small tear formed in her eye as she giggled thinking about the three of them traveling the world hunting the Avatar. Cute and gloomy Mai sighing one hundred times a day, beautiful and confident Azula inspiring and terrifying all the soldiers with them, both of them pretending to be annoyed by her perkiness, but she knew they both secretly loved it. Even as fun as traveling as a Kiyoshi warrior had been, and as much as she liked these new girls they weren't Mai and Azula. Ty lee had six identical sisters, but she didn't feel like they were anywhere near the sisters to her that Mai and Azula were. Ty Lee knew most people would think that she was crazy for loving Azula, but they didn't know her like Ty Lee did. There was that part of Azula that perhaps Ty Lee was the only one to see, but it wasn't all hate and fire inside her heart, and now in this new and happy and peaceful world Azula was all alone and sad and miserable, hated by everyone. Ty Lee had been there for Mai when she needed her most and she had done the most painful thing in her life by attacking Azula to save Mai, but now Mai was happy and going to be Firelady, and Ty Lee knew that she had to be there for Azula now in her darkest days.

That is why when she heard that tomorrow the Avatar was going to strip Azula of her bending Ty Lee made up her mind that she would leave the Kiyoshi Warriors and break Azula out of prison. Even though Azula may be dangerous, Ty Lee just couldn't stand to see the most perfect and beautiful and confident girl she had ever met stripped of something that made her who she was. She knew that if Azula lost the bending that was such a strong part of her soul, never again would Ty Lee see the burning red aura of confidence and strength that amazingly Azula had always projected since the day they met. Azula was the only person she had ever met whose aura had never changed hue even the slightest bit, and it would break her heart to see that beautiful bright red light that inspired Ty Lee for years to be changed to the sad gray that would inevitably replace it with such a huge part of herself missing.

As the sun set Ty Lee began the jog of about 5 miles to the capitol where Azula was being held in the prison located in the heart of it. She knew Azula would be heavily guarded, but Ty Lee had incredible confidence in herself that had come from Azula by being chosen as her personal escort and best friend, she knew that she must be exceptional and would not fail her princess now. She got into town and as it was mid evening she went to a tavern to grab a bite to eat as she was not going to assault the prison till well after midnight. At the tavern many young men approached her and as she was flattered by all the attention, tonight she could not let any distractions block her most important mission. She sat in a dark corner, smiling to herself thinking about all the fun times she and Mai and Azula had had, reminding herself why she could not fail.

When the tavern closed at about 1 am she headed off towards the prison, moving quickly and silently. As she approached the prison she ducked into some shadows and observed the guards pattern of movement around the top ring. She noticed that it took about five minutes from when she saw the guard walking in a loop around the top to go all the way around, so when she saw him exit her view she quickly ran towards the wall and jumped on it and scaled the side of the wall using little footholes in about a minute, the way only the most skilled acrobat in the world could do. She quickly and silently ran around the upper ring and snuck up behind the guard and quickly knocked him out with a few well placed pressure point strikes.

She went in the door and looked around, figuring that Azula would probably be on top level as a high profile prisoner. She tried to hide in the shadows as she creeped around and eventually came upon two big burly looking guards standing in front of a fancy looking door. Ty Lee hoped this was Azula's cell and quickly leapt from the shadows. The first guard had been struck in three pressure points by a flipping Ty Lee before either knew what hit them, the other one tried to shoot a fireblast with one hand as he reached for a horn with his other hand, She ducked the blast easily and quickly landed into a sweep kick that knocked him down before he could blow the horn. When he hit the ground she quickly poked him 3 times and knocked him out peacefully along with his fellow guard.

Ty Lee checked their pockets for a key but could not find one, she sighed oh well and took out a a couple small lock picks she had been carrying. Before she left the circus she had been working on an escape act and had gotten pretty good at lock picking. She fiddled around for about a minute then the cell door swung open. She took a step in and saw Azula chained to the wall by several chains, her head bowed down, but it rose up as soon as she had walked in. Ty Lee saw a sinister smile cross Azula's face as Azula said "Oh my a Kiyoshi warrior, which one are you Suki? Not content with my punishment of being stripped of my powers you thought you might take one last stab at beating the great Fire Princess Azula. Well seeing as I've barely eaten for two months and I'm chained to a wall you may have the smallest glimmer of hope of defeating me but I still wouldn't count on it." Azula laughed a dark and menacing laugh. Ty Lee stepped forward and bowed before her as she said "No princess Azula it is me." Azula's smile widened "OOH Ty Lee even better a traitor come here to see the fruits of her treachery, well look on with great satisfaction they've stripped me of everything but my greatness, and not even the Avatar tomorrow will take that from me." Ty Lee giggled and said "Stop being such a drama queen Azula I came here so that the Avatar wouldn't be able to take anything from you tomorrow." Azula frowned and said "Ty Lee I need no one's help and certainly not a traitors, so" Ty lee cut her off " Look Azula I know you are still mad at me for what happened on Boiling Rock, but as much as you may think I was betraying you I wasn't, you are still my Fire Princess and my best friend, I just couldn't let you kill Mai, if I thought Mai was gonna kill you I would've attacked her but we all knew that you would win, so now stop going on about how great you are and how you need no one and let me get you out of here so that come tomorrow night you can still shoot blue flames, and if you still feel I betrayed you well then use them on me, but right now lets just get the hell out of here." By the end Ty Lee was screaming and Azula looked taken aback but she finally spoke. "Fine Ty Lee come here and take my chains off." Ty Lee got up from her kneeling position and used her little lock picks to undo all the chains that had bound Azula. She put her arm around Azula and helped her steady herself on her feet.

Azula shrugged off Ty Lee and said " I can walk fine by myself you know." Ty Lee smiled a little as her bossy confident friend was back "Of course princess" They walked out of the cell together and went out onto the upper ring and Ty Lee turned to Azula and said "You ready to do some sliding down this wall?" "Of course I can there is nothing that Azula Princess of the Fire Nation and rightful Firelord can't do." With that Azula jumped off the side and began to slide down the wall, Ty Lee quickly followed. They quickly hit the ground and started to run as fast as they could out of town. In a few minutes they heard an alarm bell sound and knew that people would be hot on their tale, as they reached the forest Azula turned to her and said, "Let's hop from tree to tree, and not give them any tracks to follow." Ty Lee smiled and said. "That's brilliant Azula, wow I missed you and your great ideas." They spent the next two hours hopping from tree to tree deeper and deeper into the forest, they found a cave and Azula said "Let's hide out in there for a few hours and get some rest we could use it."

They jumped down from the trees and headed into the cave. Azula quickly made a small fire and said "That was the first time I've firebent in almost 2 months, how I missed the power." Ty Lee laid back and smiled to herself, she saw how happy Azula looked and knew it had all been worth it. "So what is with the Kiyoshi warrior costume anyway, trying to disguise who you were when you broke me out?" Azula asked her. "Uhmm actually I had kinda joined them, we met in prison and they seemed fun so I went and joined them." She heard Azula give a disapproving huff as she said this. "So what now, are you going to go back to them or what?" "Well seeing as I just broke out the most dangerous girl in the world I doubt they would take me back, I was hoping to travel with you actually." She saw Azula sizing her up over the campfire. "You betrayed me once Ty Lee I don't know if I can have you with me." "Look Azula as I told you before in that moment I had to help Mai, I knew you might kill her in anger and I couldn't let that happen, Attacking you was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I know friendship and love doesn't mean a lot to someone as powerful and great as you but it means a lot to me. You know I have six sisters but I love you and respect you so much more than any of them, and I know as much as you may deny it I'm one of the only people who you have ever let into your heart, I swear to you that I will be your loyal servant and best friend as you go on whatever quest you feel you need to now that you are the enemy of the world." Ty Lee looked at Azula hopefully as she finished this.  
Azula sat there thinking for a few minutes but finally spoke up "What about Mai, you know I am rightfully Firelord and I'm going to do everything I can to reclaim my throne. If she is with Zuko then you may have to choose between us again, I need to trust that you won't pick her again." "Well now Azula she is going to be Firelady and has a world full of allies, and at the moment you have only me, so in the next confrontation you will likely need me more, but if you promise you won't kill her that is all I need to know." Was Ty Lee's reply. Azula sat there for an even longer time lost in thought, then she said "Fine I can do that, Mai doesn't really matter anyway her death will do little for my purposes, Ty Lee I promise I will spare Mai in any battle in the future." Ty Lee squealed in happiness and got up and hugged Azula, "Once again I am your humble servant Princess Azula" she said as she kneeled before her again. "Fine let's try to get a few hours of sleep before we need to be on the move again." Azula said as she put out the fire with a wave of her hand.

They both lay down in the dark and a few minutes of silence passed when Azula's voice broke it "Ty Lee, when you and Mai turned on me I felt like I lost the only two people in the world who were friends with the real me, whatever that is. Ever since that day on the Boiling Rock I've felt so alone, and tomorrow I thought I was going to lose myself in despair." Ty Lee thought she heard some soft tears coming from the princess. "Well anyway what I'm saying is now I know I have at least one person in the world who will have my back at even the darkest time, a true friend, I guess what I really want to say is thank you." Ty Lee felt a few tears of happiness in her eyes as she said "I'm sorry that you ever thought I betrayed you Azula, you are my sister and I love you." She heard Azula turn over and say "Now get to bed we'll be moving at sun up."

AN: I know Ty Lee may seem a little less perky than usual but I think she can be serious when she needs to be and she felt strongly that she needed to save Azula. Her silly and lighter attitude will be there in the rest of the story.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Azula's Royal Ship

Azula woke up to see the first rays of light breaking through the opening of the cave. She got up and looked at Ty Lee sleeping there peacefully. Azula was still a bit skeptical about this but she had to admit that having her bending taken away would be a fate worse than death and Ty Lee had saved her from that so she supposed she should give the girl a second chance. "Ty Lee we need to be moving." Azula said in a authoritative voice. She saw Ty Lee roll over and say in her cheery voice with a bright smile "Morning Azula." "We need some food, I suppose I'll go and try to find some edible berries or something around here, be ready to move when I get back Ty Lee." Azula said as she was about to leave the cave. "Oh Azula I have some hippocow jerky in my bag we can eat that." Ty Lee said still with a bright smile.

Azula sat down as Ty Lee reached into her bag and pulled out some jerky and handed her a slice. Azula bit into it and thought about how much she missed the amenities of being crown princess of the Fire Nation. It was terrible in prison and now even free she would be a fugitive living on the run. Ty Lee said "So princess, what is the plan now, I never thought much past breaking you out as I figured you would have some great idea about what to do." "Well Ty Lee the most important thing in the long run is to usurp my brother as Firelord, but for now I think it would be best if we just got out of the Fire Nation and laid low for a while." Azula said.

She chewed some more of the jerky, how disgusting this was. She spoke "I think we should hide out in the Earth Kingdom for some time where we will be less recognizable, until the search for us dies down." Ty Lee smiled and said "Wow Azula that sounds really smart." Azula smiled to herself, she was so glad that if she had to have one of her allies back that it was Ty Lee who so easily played her subservient retainer. She also knew that in her moment of weakness last night when she expressed her gratefulness to Ty Lee for saving her that the girl would take this as a strong expression of their friendship. The shame she felt for showing weakness may have been worth it in the loyalty it had earned in the girl who was now her only subject.

Ty Lee looked over and said "How are we going to get there, I don't have much money or a boat?" Azula said. "Well there is a safe in my quarters on my ship, I kept enough gold in it to get us through for a while, and to get there we should be able to steal a war balloon and then we can fly it over to the Earth Kingdom." "Won't there be guards?" Ty Lee asked. "I figured between the two of us it will take the Avatar himself to stop us." Azula said back with a confident smirk. "You are right Princess, I forgot how just being around you makes me feel so much stronger, I'm glad to be back in the presence of someone as pretty and smart as you." Ty Lee said. "Yes, Yes I know Ty Lee, now we should move back down towards the harbor and hopefully my ship is still docked there." Azula said standing up.

The two girls kept to the same plan as yesterday hopping from tree to tree when they could to leave no discernible trail. Moving this way it was near dusk when they finally made it near the harbor. They had seen some soldiers moving through the forest looking for them but had managed to sneak past fairly easily without being detected. Azula smiled as from the top of a tree at the edge of the forest next to the harbor she could see her beautiful flagship sitting just where she saw it last. She turned back to see Ty Lee picking a flower that was growing next to the tree she was perched in. "Look Azula isn't this so pretty? Plus it smells so nice." She saw Ty Lee take a big whiff of the flower as she spoke. "We will wait til around midnight to make our move, so just keep your eyes peeled for anyone approaching." Azula said in a commanding voice. Ty Lee bowed and said "Of course Princess." and then got up and proceeded to pick another flower. Azula smiled at this, had she not known Ty Lee so well she might be concerned, but as silly and frivolous as Ty Lee may appear Azula knew she was a ferocious and dangerous warrior who may appear to be ignoring her surroundings, but spirits help anyone who tried to sneak up on them.

"I'm going to try and take a small nap before we move as I will be up all night stoking the fires of the balloon, so keep watch." Azula said. "Of course Princess." Ty Lee said bowing down again. When Azula was about to close her eyes she saw a giant white cloud looking thing fly over head that she recognized as the Avatar's bison. She smiled to herself, and whispered to herself as she closed her eyes"There will be no stripping me of my power this day Avatar. Your greatest enemy will see her self standing victorious over you yet, be sure of that."

She opened her eyes and saw the moon high in the sky and felt Ty Lee perched right next to her. Azula was impressed, she was a very light sleeper and yet Ty lee had climbed next to her without waking her. "Are you ready Ty Lee it seems late enough.?"

Azula said to the girl. "Of course princess, what is the plan.?" "It is a simple one, the ship is guarded by Fire Nation soldiers I am their crown princess they will not deny me access to my own belongings. Now Let's go." Azula said with a confident smirk.

The two girls approached the ship Azula walking with an extreme confidence, Ty Lee just a few feet behind her. As they approached the ramp up to the ship two soldiers stood their and called out "Stop who goes there, come no further." Azula took two steps forward and made a large blue flame in her hand that revealed her face, she smiled as she saw the look of fear in their eyes behind there helmet as her voice boomed out. "It is I Fire Princess and rightful Firelord Azula, now if you two dogs dare stand in the way of me gaining access to my own ship I will have no problem reducing you both to pile of ash where you stand, now step aside or be prepared to face the dire consequences of resisting me." Both soldier instantaneously moved to the side and bowed down in front of her saying meekly "Yes of course princess."

The two girls walked up the ramp and Azula said over her shoulder "I want to see you both in that exact same position when I exit the ship." She made her way towards her room and said "Ty Lee I will get all I need from my room and safe, you check the other compartments for anything that may be useful." Azula entered her room as Ty lee scampered off in the other direction. Azula laughed to herself as she thought of all the missions Ty lee would be good at she doubted finding useful things for being fugitives would be one of them. She used the combination to open her safe, and took out the giant sack of gold coins she kept in there in case of emergency, and also the ruby encrusted flame shaped tiara her father had given her for her fourteenth birthday. She grabbed a bag and threw some of her clothes in it and then closed the door and walked out into the hallway.

She went towards the room Ty lee had occupied when they traveled together and entered it to see her changing out of her Kiyoshi warrior outfit and back into the pink acrobat outfit she always wore when traveling with Azula. "What else did you get other than clothes Ty Lee?" Azula asked her. "Oh well I grabbed a couple of maps and some dry rations to eat till we got in the Earth Kingdom." Once she saw Ty Lee finish changing and put her little pink shoes on she said "Well let's get going towards the balloons."

They walked back down the ramp and Ty Lee said to the guards who were still bowed in the same exact position "Wow I bet you guys didn't move an inch, look Azula it's so funny." Azula just smiled and said "Come Ty Lee of course they didn't move they knew they have far more to fear from me then my pathetic brother who stole my throne. You can stand now, and when you report this to Zuko you can tell him that I will not be gone for long and when I return I will take from him what is rightfully mine, no matter how many water tribe peasant girls he brings to fight his battles." Ty Lee laughed and as they walked off together she said to Azula "I think you're going to scare your brother as much as you scared them."

They approached the depot where the war balloons were being held and saw several guards near the entrance. Once again Azula stepped out as the guards ordered her to halt. With blue flames dancing in her palms she spoke in a commanding voice "You can step aside and let me take what I want or you can stand in my way and pay for your insolence, just know that I will be taking no prisoners." She stared at each soldier one by one with an intense gaze, they all immediately lowered their head fearful of the fire burning not only in her hands but also in her eyes. The commander of the guard bowed and said "Take whatever you need princess we are still yours to command." Azula and Ty Lee walked past each of them and towards the closest balloon. As they got into the balloon Ty Lee said "Gosh Azula you're amazing, even after spending two months in prison you're still just as powerful and confident and frightening and beautiful as you have always been." Azula smirked as she said"When you are born with greatness nothing can take it away from you."

She started a fire inside the balloon and it started to lift off. "You will tell no one of this until the morning understand me?" She screamed down at the cowering guards as they raised out of sight. Azula was manipulating the fire inside, frustrated with how slow the balloon was going. She turned to Ty Lee and said"You've had a long day Ty Lee you should get some rest I should be fine to navigate this by myself." Ty Lee bowed and smiled and said "Thank you princess, I will, goodnight." She then switched to a position where she was laying down looking up at the sky as she said. "The stars really are beautiful tonight Azula don't you think." "Yes Ty Lee they are, and bright too so that will make it easier to navigate. Now like I said get some rest, we have a long quest ahead of us, the next time I come home I need it to be a triumphant return and that means you and I have a lot of work to do." Ty Lee smiled a huge grin up at Azula and said "Of course princess. Goodnight Azula." Azula looked down on her friend and said with a contented look. "Goodnight Ty Lee."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 A Personal Mission

**AN: While the main story of this is going to be Ty Lee and Azula, there will be a secondary story that will feature Sokka and Suki chasing them, this is the first chapter with them.**

Suki was finished changing out of her Kiyoshi warriors outfit and put it all away in her closet. She had a sad smile on her face as she realized that would be the last time she wore that outfit for what would most likely be a long time. She had decided to resign as the head Kiyoshi warrior and passed that job to her friend Asami with whom she had trained since she was eight years old. She still loved the Kiyoshi warriors, and would miss them but ever since she read the note that Ty Lee had left for her when she abandoned the Kiyoshi Warriors Suki knew that she had to track her down. Suki felt bad that she had been the one who agreed to let Ty Lee join the group and now felt it was her responsibility to make amends for the damage caused by one of her subordinates. That is why she has resigned and is now going to travel the world tracking down Ty Lee and Azula.

She grabbed her 2 fans and her sword and made her way out of her room. She had been living in the Fire Nation since the end of the war, the Kiyoshi warriors had felt like they were most needed in the Fire Nation to help quell some the trouble caused by some of the more stubborn members of the army who weren't quite as happy with the peace as the rest of the world. She left her small house located in the Fire Nation capitol and made her way to Firelord Zuko's palace where Zuko was waiting to meet with her. She approached the palace and the guards led her to a waiting room where she sat patiently for a few minutes. Then one of the guards came back in and said "The Firelord will see you now" as he guided her into the main chamber of the palace.

When she entered she saw Zuko sitting there alongside his new fiance Mai. He smiled as he saw Suki walk in and said "Suki what a pleasant surprise, what brings you here today." She bowed down before him, then he said "Come on Suki that is not necessary we are friends, and you aren't even a Fire Nation citizen." She smiled as she got up from her bowed position and said "Thanks Zuko." His face turned a little more serious as he said "So what is this overly formal audience with the firelord that you requested really about." She looked straight ahead sternly and said "I just wanted to let you know that I have resigned as the head of the Kiyoshi Warriors, my friend Asami will be taking that roll and she is more than qualified and has all the experience and talent, if not more than I do." Zuko's face looked puzzled, but then he smiled as he said "Oh so you finally decided to move with Sokka to the South Pole, I know that balloon I gave him so he could travel here to see you whenever he wanted was getting overworked."

Suki felt her heart drop a little bit, she had been trying not to think about Sokka and how when she was going to be out scouring the globe for Azula and Ty Lee she would be apart from him for far too long. She said "No Zuko I have decided that since it was one of my very own Kiyoshi warriors that broke Azula out of prison that I would take responsibility for tracking them down." Zuko looked stunned and Mai just gave a little chuckle as she said "You know you're crazy right Suki, You don't stand a chance against Azula or Ty lee for that matter." Suki had never really cared much for Mai even if she did save her life at the Boiling Rock, but she was about to be firelady so she responded respectfully "I would beg to disagree Mai, but I suppose we will find out." Zuko just looked down at Suki with saddness in his eyes and pleaded "Suki no one blames you for what Ty Lee did, you don't have to do this, it's too dangerous. Sokka will kill me if anything happens to you and he knows I knew about your plan." Suki responded calmly "As you said before, I am not a Fire Nation citizen so I am not asking for your permission Zuko, I was simply telling you as a courtesy what my plan was. You also need not worry about me I can take care of myself."

Just then the doors of the chamber busted open and a few guards were screaming and trying to hold back Sokka "The firelord is engaged you will have to wait your turn." but then a large scream was heard "Suki, Suki where are you." Zuko commanded "Let him in." The guards bowed and said "Of Course Firelord" as they let Sokka loose. Sokka stormed up to Suki as she said "Sokka what are you doing here, you were supposed to be helping your dad rebuild your village this week." He frowned at Suki as he said "Asami sent me a letter saying what you were going to do, I can't let you go on some crazy mission where you are going to get yourself killed." Suki felt the anger in her rise "I'm not some helpless little girl Sokka, I can take care of myself, I let Ty Lee join us and now she betrayed us, I need to make this right." Sokka tried to hug her, but she pushed him back "Suki it's not your fault, you don't need to do this." Zuko chimed in "Yea Suki listen to Sokka, I have plenty of soldiers to hunt them down, it's a Fire Nation problem not a Kiyoshi Warrior problem." She screamed back "That is where you are both wrong, in the centuries that the Kiyoshi Warriors have existed there has never been a traitor, now there has been and I was the leader while this happened so I don't care what either of you say I need to do this."

She then calmed down and her voice got sweeter as she took Sokka's hand "Sokka look at me, it's so sweet that you're worried about me, I know you care, but I need to do this, I'm your girlfriend but I'm also a warrior and right now the warrior side has to come first for me." She kissed him on the lips gently. Sokka stepped back and said "Fine I know when you get like this you won't change your mind, but I won't let you go alone I'm coming with you." Suki shook her head and said "Sokka no way, this is a Kiyoshi warrior matter, plus your family just got back together, and you are rebuilding your village, I know how much you want to spend time with your dad learning how to be the chief of the tribe, I won't allow you to waste who knows how long on a quest that may end up failing." Sokka stared back at her with an intensity that she had never seen before as he said sternly "You are right about all those things Suki, I do want to help rebuild the south pole and I do need to learn how to become a better leader from my dad." As much as she said those things and knew Sokka shouldn't come a huge part of her still desperately wanted him with her so she bowed her head down in sadness, but then he touched her cheek and lifter her head to stare back into his deep ocean blue eyes "But" he continued "I will always be there for my family, and right now the person in my family who needs me most is you Suki, I love you so much, if anything happened to you while you were out there I'd never forgive myself, so as much as you won't take no for an answer about going on this quest I won't let you go alone. Even if you don't want me or talk to me I'll follow behind day and night." but then she silenced him with a kiss that was filled with the vast ocean of love that had built in her heart for her brave water tribe warrior Sokka.

They heard a groan of "Ughh get a room" from Mai, but they continued to kiss passionately for another minute or so. When they finally broke apart Zuko said "Well I guess I won't be able to talk either of you out of this so let me help in any way I can. Suki I am going to place a war Zeppelin and it's crew under your command to help in the search." He smiled and got up as he approached them. Zuko then held out his hand and Sokka took it in a traditional water tribe handshake, then Zuko gave Suki a hug as he said "You both mean a lot to me and you know as well as I do just how dangerous and evil Azula can be so you have to promise me that you will be careful and come back home alive." Sokka said "Sure thing Zuko, no crazed fire princess can get the better of me and my girl." Suki felt Sokka grab her around the shoulder and squeeze her, as nice as it felt she still rolled her eyes. Zuko then said "One last thing, as Firelord I command you to spend one more night here and we will hold a feast in honor of your bravery in taking up the quest to track down the most dangerous fugitive in the world." Suki smiled as she heard Sokka say "Well I do like feasts."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 First Day In The Earth Kingdom

It was early morning as the war balloon approached the westernmost shore of the Earth Kingdom. Azula let the flames die down and let some of the heat escape out the top as she eased the balloon in to a slow descent to touch down on the sandy beach. She said "Ty Lee get up now." The other girl in the balloon opened her eyes and said "What's up Azula?" Azula responded "We're in the Earth Kingdom, I'm gonna burn this balloon and then we'll head towards the closest town." The two girls unpacked everything and once they were finished Azula shot a flame blast into it. They walked away as it burned.

Ty Lee was moving along happily next to Azula as she asked "So Princess what do we do now?" Azula said "Well Ty Lee we stick out pretty obviously as Fire Nation so I think we should by some earth Kingdom disguises and just keep on the move for a while till hopefully the search for us dies down some." The two girls followed along the path till they came to a small village. They walked up to what appeared to be a restaurant. They both went in and got a table for themselves, Azula's eyes were darting around taking in her surroundings. The waiter came up and gave them there menus.

Ty Lee looked at the menu and said "Yuk I hate Earth Kingdom food." Azula laughed and said "Anything cooked should be better than the jerky we've been surviving on." Ty Lee replied "Oh well at least they have HippoCow steaks, though it's the most expensive thing on the menu." Azula sighed and said "Just order whatever you want Ty Lee we have more than enough gold." Ty Lee clapped and said "Thank you princess, you're the best." Azula sighed again and said in a mildly agitated but soft voice "Ty Lee remember we are on the run, don't call me princess when we're in public in fact we should probably come up with some fake names to use from now on." Ty Lee said "Oh yea, that's right. Can I please come up with the names?" Azula shrugged her shoulders and said "Whatever just make sure they aren't too stupid or noticeable."

The waiter came up and Azula ordered two Hippocow steaks cooked well done, and then sat in silence as Ty Lee seemed lost in thought. Azula was sure she was trying to come up with names that she thought were cute or clever or whatever, Azula could care less. Ty Lee smiled and said "I think I'll be Lily and you can be Ryoko." Azula smiled and said "Those are excellent choices Lily." Ty Lee smiled back and said "Why thank you Ryoko."

Ty Lee continued to talk about some silly nonsense while Azula barely paid attention, as her attention was focused on two Earth Kingdom soldiers who were in the corner and appeared to be looking at them. Azula was trying to determine if they were suspicious of them being wanted criminals or if the soldiers were just checking out the two girls for their looks. Ty Lee said "Ryoko are you even listening?" and Azula snapped back and said "Oh sorry I was lost in my own train of thought." Ty Lee smiled and said "No problem, so I was saying how Mai and your brother are supposed to be getting married in three months." Azula said "Is that right?" she supposed she was mildly interested in this. Ty Lee said "Yea, I was supposed to be the maid of honor, but I guess that may not be happening now since we're on the run." She seemed to get a little sad as she finished. Azula said "Well I promise if I ever get married I'll let you be maid of honor."

Ty Lee smiled wide as she heard this "Wow thanks, maid of honor to a princess that would be so much fun." Azula laughed and said "I think that's a long way away." Ty Lee laughed back and said "I feel sorry for whoever the groom's going to be." Azula laughed even harder and said "I should probably take that as an insult, but I'll choose to take it as a compliment." Ty lee laughed back and said "You know I think your the most beautiful smartest and perfect girl in the world, I just meant.." Azula cut her off and said "I know, I thought it was funny."

The waiter brought there meal over and the two of them ate it with little talking as they were both starved from being on the run for the past few days. Azula eyed the two soldiers as they left and saw that they stopped and talked to the waiter who had waited on Azula and Ty Lee. The two of them looked at her as they exited. Azula said quietly "Eat up quickly I think we may have been spotted." Ty Lee said "Of course." Both girls finished eating quickly and Azula waved the waiter over and gave him 6 gold pieces and said "Keep the change" as the two girls hurried out of the restaurant.

Once they stepped outside Azula's suspicions were confirmed as those two guards had been joined by four more and they were in a semi-circle around the entrance to the restaurant. The one who appeared to be the leader stepped forward and said "If you come quietly we won't hurt you." Azula just laughed and said "Just six of you, if you are here to arrest me then surely you know who I am, and then you must know it will take much more than six peons to capture me." He said "This is your last chance." and she smiled an evil grin and said "Why thank you but I think I'll take my chances fighting you."

With that she put one hand behind her back and rocketboosted up into the sky. The leader who was an earthbender chucked two rocks at her which she easily dodged. She landed on the roof of the building and shot several flame blasts towards the soldiers. She watched as Ty Lee had somersaulted into three of the non-bending guards and had dropped each with one well struck blow. Two were running towards the roof that Azula was standing on and she jumped over their heads and shot a huge fireball into the ground between them as she flew over. The fireball exploded between them and they were both blown ten feet in the air and were unconscious as they hit the ground. Only the leader was left and he created a rock wall in front of himself and started to punch boulders in the direction of Azula. She kicked two aside and fired a blast towards the wall. But then she saw the earthbender fall over as Ty Lee had gotten in behind him and took him down with a few chi strikes.

Ty Lee walked up to Azula and said "Gee Azula why are earthbenders always so weak?" Azula just laughed and said "I think it's just that we are so tough Ty Lee." Azula walked into the center of the town and shouted "If you don't want me to burn this pathetic excuse for a village to the ground you will bring me two ostrich horses and several changes of Earth Kingdom woman's clothing. I will stand here for five minutes and then the flames begin." She stood patiently in the same spot Ty Lee next to her as the village scrambled about. Ty Lee looked over and laughed "Geez Azula look at them all running around you're just so scary." In about three minutes about five ostrich horses and several bags of clothing were brought to them.

The girls picked the two most powerful looking ostrichhorses and grabbed several bags of clothes and threw them on the back of the ostriches. Azula started to ride out of town but then stopped at a building on the edge of the village. She shouted "I will spare the entire village, but this is for the foolishness of the soldiers who did try to arrest me." She then shot a prolonged blast into the building and watched as it quickly went up in flames. She shouted back at the village one last time as they rode off "Let everyone know the next village to oppose me will not be as lucky as you were, I will leave no building standing." The two girls rode down the rode and Ty Lee turned to Azula and said "I'm really glad I'm on your side Azula." Azula just smiled and laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Azula and Ty Lee rode through the rest of the day and decided to make camp a little off of the road a few hours after nightfall. Azula started a fire and sat down. Ty Lee was busy tying the ostrichhorses to a tree as Azula started to unpack the bags that they had received. Ty Lee came over to sit down next to Azula and said "So what do we do now Azula, are we going to terrorize every village in the Earth Kingdom." Azula laughed and replied, "As much fun as this afternoon was Ty Lee it is probably best to avoid such confrontations in the future." Azula threw Ty Lee a simple earth kingdom dress and said "Change into these, we're much to noticeable in our own clothes. I also think we should change our hair so I want you to cut mine short, and I think you should wear yours just down no braids."

Ty Lee clapped her hands and said, "Ooh makeovers, this ought to be fun." Azula just sighed and handed over a pair of scissors and said, "Go nuts." The next hour or so went by as Ty Lee was being extra careful to cut Azula's hair so that it would look super cute. Ty Lee finished and stood in front of Azula eyeing her as she said, "I liked your hair longer but I still think it looks great princess." Azula looked at the remains of her hair and said "Whatever Ty Lee, the more ordinary I look the better. Now you should take your hair out of your braids and put on some frumpy clothes, remember the idea is to not draw any attention to us." Ty Lee frowned but said "Yes princess." As she started to strip out of her acrobat outfit and put on a large and loose fitting brown Earth Kingdom dress. She asked "So where are we off to next Azula."

Azula replied, "I think we will make our way to Ba Sing Se and try to get some support. I believe some of the Dai Li agents who supported me in the past are in jail there and we will break them out." Ty Lee laid down on her blanket and said "Breaking into Ba Sing Se again that should be interesting." Azula also started to get ready for bed and said, "It will be a long trip to get there, we will deal with whatever gets in our way." Ty Lee said, "I'm sure we will, goodnight Azula." Azula settled back and replied, "Goodnight Ty Lee." She rested her head on some jumbled up clothes on the ground and closed her eyes thinking how much she missed the comforts of being a princess.

The morning came and Azula woke up first, she rolled over and looked at Ty Lee sleeping there peacefully. She stood up and decided to take a quick bath in the stream to clear all the rest of the loose hair off of her. She stripped down and lowered herself into the water and dipped her head in the stream running her fingers through her now very short hair. She spent the next twenty minutes in the water then wrapped herself in a towel as she made her way back to their little camp. Ty Lee sat up rubbing her eyes as she heard Azula approach. "Good morning, I see you went for a swim." Azula said "Get ready quickly we will try to make good time today, I want to spend as little time on the run in the Earth Kingdom as possible." Ty Lee hopped up and was a blur of activity as she was ready to go in five minutes before Azula had finished getting dressed.

They got on the ostrichhorses and made their way back to the road. They rode down the rode passing by a few other travelers but no one seemed to notice who they were. The whole day went like this, they stopped for lunch but spent most of the day traveling. It was a very calm day and they managed to travel several miles from the village that they had partially set fire to. They traveled a few hours past dusk and came to the moderately sized city of Komashi. Azula said, "We'll find an inn to stay in for the night I am sick of sleeping on the ground." Ty Lee smiled and said, "I'm glad, all that dirt has been bad for my skin."

They approached the inn and Azula said to go find a place to stable the horses, I'll go get us a room. Azula made her way into the inn and approached the old woman behind the counter. She said, "We need a room for the night please." The innkeeper said "Oh Hello young lady, that will be 4 silver pieces and 5 copper pieces please." Azula took out two gold pieces and handed it over and said, "Keep the change and just hand over the key please." The old woman took the money and looked at and said "Ooh fire nation money, did you hear about the escaped princess who attacked a village near here." Azula smiled and replied "No I did not that is interesting, now if you would excuse me." She took the key with a number on it and made her way out to find Ty Lee.

She approached the stable and saw Ty Lee standing there with the stable boy seemingly flirting. Azula cleared her throat and said "Lily let's go now." Ty Lee didn't seem to remember her fake name for a second but then turned and said "Oh ok Ryoko, I'll see you later Jin." She waved at the boy as she walked away. Azula followed the boys eyes as they focused on Ty Lee's backside as she walked away. They headed towards their room and Azula sighed and said in an agitated voice "Must you always flirt with every boy who pays you any attention." Ty Lee laughed and said "I wasn't flirting he was just telling me about the four ostrichhorses he owns at his farm. He wanted to take me there to show me." Azula just shook her head as they reached their hotel room and opened the door.

Ty Lee ran in and jumped on the bed and said "Ooh a bed this is soooooo nice." She put her head on the pillow and said "We need to stay at inns all the time Azula, the ground is icky." Azula sat on the other bed and replied, "I agree Ty Lee, but we need to find a place to convert our Fire Nation money to Earth Kingdom coins. Two teenage girls traveling with a large stash of Fire Nation coins might be a little suspicious." Ty Lee said "Whatever you think is best, I'm gonna go make my way to the bath house and clean up, riding ostrichhorses make you gross and sweaty." Azula just nodded and continued to sit there looking out the window.

She thought about how hopeless this all seemed. She had no doubt in herself she was the most powerful firebender in the world. She also had no doubt in Ty Lee, despite the fact that she was not a bender, Ty Lee was the most skilled and dangerous hand to hand combatant she had ever seen. But no matter how skilled they were she couldn't ignore the fact that they were just two teenage girls against the whole world a world that included the avatar. She knew that somewhere along the way she would have to have another confrontation with the airbender. She knew of all the challenges that were ahead of her defeating that bald monk would be the greatest. He had defeated her father the only bender who was comparable to her, and now had mastered all the elements so he would be much more difficult to defeat then when they had battled in Ba Sing Se.

She remembered sitting on the throne of the Earth King a smile crossing her lips. Then her mind wandered to her brother Zuko sitting on the dragon throne that rightfully belonged to her. That picture running through her mind made her blood boil, she still could not believe that someone who was so inferior to her in every way managed to have everything that she ever wanted. She slammed her fist down on the bed and then rolled over onto it. Anger and frustration accomplished nothing she reminded herself, she was certain that it was her place and not her brother's to be on the throne. Her family was great and powerful and deserved to rule over the rest of the world not co-exist peacefully with it. Her brother was a disgrace to the royal bloodline and seeing as her father was now powerless it fell on her to fulfill their royal destiny.

She wasn't sure how long she had been lost in thought but Ty Lee came back into the room wrapped in a towel. Ty Lee said, "You should really take a bath, they have a jasmine soap that just smells wonderful." She held her arm out to Azula and she just said "I'll take your word for it, I'll have one in the morning. I need to sleep let's turn out the lights." Ty Lee replied, "I'll just throw on my PJs and then we can call it a night." Azula rolled away from Ty Lee and stared at the wall her mind still bothered by the heavy burden she felt. She closed her eyes and started some breathing exercise Lo and Li had taught her to help clear her mind. Ty Lee put out the lights eventually and said "Goodnight Azula." She replied her mind calming "Good night Ty Lee;" and let the peace of sleep wash over her.


End file.
